The life of Christ at Nazareth before His public mystery is not recorded in Scripture. Yet, many saints recommend meditation upon the hidden life of Jesus at Nazareth to grow in virtue. The following meditation was excerpted from Saint Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises.
Meditation
First prelude. Jesus having been found in the Temple by Mary and Joseph, left Jerusalem and returned with them to Nazareth, and was subject to them; and He advanced in wisdom and grace with God and man (Luke 2:51, 52).
Second prelude. Represent to yourself the humble house at Nazareth, the workshop of St. Joseph, and so on.
Third prelude. Ask of God a grace conformable to the present mystery and to your wants; for example, the love of a retired life, of retreat, of labor, of prayer, of obedience, and so on. The Gospel only teaches us three things regarding the life of Jesus at Nazareth:—(1) That He obeyed: “He was subject to them” (Luke 2:52). (2) That He worked with His hands and at the work of an artisan: “Is not this the son of the carpenter?” (Mark 6:3). (3) That “He grew in wisdom, in age, and in grace before God and before men” (Luke 2:52).
First Point
At Nazareth Jesus obeyed
Consider the obedience of Jesus Christ in all its circumstances.
1. Who is He that obeys? It is He who is reason by essence; He whose will is sovereignly wise and independent; it is the Word of God.
2. Whom does He obey? His creatures. He obeys Joseph and Mary, whom He infinitely surpasses in light and in sanctity; who derive, and can only derive, light and holiness from Him. He obeys even strangers, who command Him like a mercenary; that is to say, He submits His will, the most noble and most upright that ever was, to wills full of weakness, of ignorance, of caprice—wills only made to obey Him.
3. In what does He obey? In everything that was commanded Him; consequently in the most trifling things, even in the meanest things—for example, in all the details of care required by a poor household and the station of a mechanic who earns his bread by the sweat of his brow.
4. How long does He obey? For thirty years, that is, not only during His childhood, when obedience is both a necessity and a duty for man, but also in the strength of age, when, according to the ordinary laws of
nature and society, every man is arrived at the time when he has a right to govern himself.
5. How did He obey? In the most perfect way that can be conceived. By obedience of action, which executes promptly and to the letter; obedience of mind, which does not reason on the motives of the order or its nature; obedience of heart, which submits with love to the orders of
man as to the orders of the Divine will.
Let us examine ourselves, our thoughts, our feelings, our conduct, with regard to obedience. Let us beg Our Lord to teach us by His example the value, the necessity, the practice of this virtue.
Second Point
At Nazareth Jesus worked
Represent to yourself what passes in a poor family. A mechanic engaged in manual labor; his wife occupied in the lowest domestic offices; a child sharing the toils of both, first assisting his mother, and then, as his strength increases with his age, helping his father in the labors of his trade; this is a faithful image of what took place at Nazareth.
Consider attentively—
1. The dignity of Him who thus labors. How is the condition of a workman regarded by the world? What pity is inspired by the misfortune of a man who is obliged, by reverse of fortune, to descend to this condition? From this conclude how little suitable such a condition is to Jesus Christ; to the descendant of David; the Messiah who might labor in public with such success in the promulgation of the Gospel; to a God.
2. The painful and humiliating circumstances of this work. It is the work of a carpenter, working in wood; using rough tools; his time and toil hired out to any master who will pay him; recommencing each day the same fatigues, scarcely interrupted by hasty meals and a short sleep; living unknown and despised, like those poor artisans, whose fate is never pitied, who often think themselves fortunate in meeting with persons to hire their services. Such is the position of Jesus Christ; thus is accomplished what the prophet said of Him: “I am poor and in labours from my youth” (Ps. 87:16).
3. In what manner Jesus Christ works. Enter into the heart of Jesus Christ. Prayer is constantly united in it to the work of the hands. In the midst of bodily fatigues, Jesus blesses the justice of His Father, that has condemned man to water the earth that gives him bread with the sweat of his brow (Gen. 3:19). When He receives orders, He adores in creatures the supreme dominion of His Father; when He receives payment, He returns thanks to His providence, which gives subsistence to all men; when He suffers disdain and rebuffs, He accepts them as a reparation to His glory outraged by sin.
4. The motive of the labor of Jesus Christ. Among so many different professions, why did Jesus Christ choose one so laborious and so low? It is to teach men that since original sin, they have two great disorders to combat—pride and luxury—and that the only way to arrive at their final end is by the path of humiliation and suffering.
5. The merit of the labor of Jesus Christ; a merit so excellent that it fixes the looks and complaisance of His celestial Father. At the same time that Jesus Christ hides Himself at Nazareth, there are in the world famous politicians, celebrated orators and poets, captains of high renown; but the eyes of the Lord are turned from all these men and rest on Nazareth, a city so despised and of which it was said, “Can any thing good come from Nazareth?” ( John 1:46). They are fixed on the Son of the carpenter; Him alone the celestial Father points out to His angels, saying, “Behold My beloved Son”—how He obeys, how He humbles Himself, how He annihilates Himself, for My glory and My love.
Third Point
At Nazareth Jesus Christ grew in grace and wisdom before God and before men
Jesus Christ could not grow interiorly in virtue, since from the first moment of His conception the plenitude of grace dwelt in Him, and therefore the words of the Gospel signify that each day He produced new acts and allowed new marks of holiness to appear. Represent Our Saviour to yourself in spirit as if you contemplated Him with your eyes; follow Him in all the details of this life, so simple and so common; study all the virtues that were developed in Him with age—
1. Humility, which makes Him prefer to the labors of an apostolic life obscurity, retreat, a hidden life in the workshop of a mechanic.
2. Detachment, which makes Him support with joy the most painful privations in His dwelling, His dress, His food; in a word, all the wants of the poor.
3. Charity, which fills his heart with an immense compassion for the miseries of men; above all, with a burning zeal for their salvation.
4. Modesty, which regulates admirably His looks, His words, all His movements, all His steps.
5. Recollection, which, in the midst of conversation, work, or recreation, always keeps His holy soul elevated and united to the Divinity.
6. Perfection in the commonest actions; so that it is written of Him “that He did all things well” (Mark 7:37). Recall to yourself that holiness of life depends on the sanctity of ordinary actions; consequently, that it is by the perfection or imperfection of the actions of common life that we approach our end or go farther from it. Take, then, Jesus Christ for your model, and learn from the example of His private life to do all things well.
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This article is taken from a chapter in The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius by Saint Ignatius of Loyola which is available from TAN Books.
